Touching Ice

  “Babies?” His eyes widened. “Now you want more than one?”

  She laughed at his expression and lowered her gaze to his mouth. “Kiss me. We can practice making them until we’re both ready to discuss this again. You can tell me how many since I know you’re a control freak.”

  Beautiful silvery-blue eyes narrowed and he suddenly drove his hips up, forcing his cock deeper inside her. “Was this mention of offspring just to keep me calm?”

  A moan tore from her lips. She shook her head. “I mean it. I figured I have your full attention right now so it was a good time to bring it up.” Her mouth brushed his. “I ache for you. Will you make love to me slowly? I want to savor every second of having you inside me.”

  “Slow next time. I need you,” he rasped, lifting her hips and slamming her back down onto him, thrusting every inch of his hard flesh inside her.

  His strength turned her on as he lifted her and pulled her down, helping her ride him fast and hard. Pure rapture spread through her body with every movement, every up-and-down glide of her body on his, and their breathing turned choppy as they moved faster together, frantically trying to reach climax. The pleasure increased with the speed until it became nearly unbearable for Megan. Her inner vaginal walls clenched, gripping him tighter, and then she screamed, coming hard.

  Ice’s body arched under hers, his back leaving the padded floor, and he threw back his head as Megan’s muscles milked his cock, sending him over the edge with her as he roared her name.

  “Warning,” the computer voice suddenly spoke. “Oxygen consumption over the safety limit. Life forms in danger.”

  Ice jerked, his head lowering. “What is that? Who is that?”

  Megan grinned, panting, and opened her mouth to explain about the onboard computer but she suddenly felt lightheaded. Her grin died as she realized what had happened. She saw Ice’s eyes widen with alarm and then she collapsed on his chest. His body turned limp under hers and his hands dropped away from her hips.

  The computer had gassed them to knock them out, thinking they were unruly passengers who needed to be calmed. Megan tried to fight passing out but the chemicals worked fast. Blackness rushed at her as she lost consciousness.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “That should do it. Should we lift her off him?” Those were the first words Megan heard as she started to come around. The drugs the computer had used to subdue her and Ice would leave them sluggish and a little out of it until they wore off. She remembered what had happened and tried to make sense of why she heard male voices instead of the automated, computer one. She had to be dreaming or imagining things. Her eyes opened and she stared at the padding on the side of the capsule.

  The bright light made her want to groan. For some reason they’d been put on full bright, and she sprawled on top of Ice. Her cheek rested over his heart and her arms were stretched above her over his shoulders, her hands loosely curled next to his warm neck. Under her, Ice stirred, a soft groan coming from him, and inside her, his cock twitched. They were still physically connected.

  “Drugged,” he groaned.

  “I know.” She rubbed her cheek against his warm chest. Her skin tingled, another side effect from the gas they’d been exposed to. “The computer probably thought we were freaking out and triggered the drugs to calm us down.”

  His arm moved and Megan realized that Ice was wiping her hair away from his face. He blew out air and then turned his head. She lifted hers and stared down into his sleepy, sexy eyes. She smiled.

  “Calmer now? How did I do, getting a handle on your fear? I’m hoping you have another panic attack. I could totally go another round.”

  He smiled and then his gaze shifted from hers to something behind her. His smile died and she watched his beautiful gray skin pale until he nearly turned a milky white. Whatever he saw alarmed her. Had something gone wrong when she’d hit her head on the lid? There were some control functions there. She jerked her head around to follow his stare.

  The lid stood open and she wasn’t staring at a set of controls. She saw metal beams far above her and two cyborg males were standing over them, both smiling, and she knew one of them. Flint winked.

  “Hello. I’m glad that you are with us again. We hoped the oxygen would revive you when we opened the lid. You were both unconscious.” Flint arched an eyebrow. “We’ll back away while you fix your clothing.” His gaze lowered down Megan’s body and he chuckled. “And put pants on.”

  Heat flamed Megan’s cheeks, realizing that she straddled Ice, her body naked from the waist down. She sat up slowly, afraid to move off him, and peered over the edge of the open capsule. She recognized the cargo bay of the Star immediately and saw a group of cyborgs standing about ten feet away with their backs turned. Four other capsules were taking up space on the floor near them.

  “We’re on the Star,” Ice stated.

  “I know.” She slowly eased off his hips, embarrassment still warming her cheeks as they separated, and she lifted up enough for Ice’s cock to totally withdraw from her body. “Shit. They just saw my ass,” she whispered.

  “You have a very attractive one.” Ice chuckled.

  Her gaze lowered as she frantically reached back, feeling for her discarded pants. So, he found the situation funny. She sure didn’t. She eased completely off him and he pulled his pants up, covered his flaccid cock, and fastened his pants. He sat up and pulled his legs out of her way. She sat up, yanked on her pants, and kept low so no one could see her movements. Ice climbed out by using the edges to lift up and swing a leg over the rim of the capsule.

  Megan fastened her pants and then Ice bent over her, one arm hooking under the back of her knees while his other one wrapped around her waist. When he lifted her, she wrapped her arms around his neck as he straightened, turned, and then gently set her on her bare feet on the deck of the cargo bay.

  Flint turned and walked close again, his humor gone and his expression tense. “Now that you’re alert, where is Councilman Zorus? We recovered three council members and Roan. They had reprogrammed the computers by remote linking and hacking the pods to head back to this ship and signaled us to meet them when they were within range. We immediately traced the path of the enemy shuttle and found your pod floating dead in space.” He paused. “Why didn’t you reprogram your pod to reach us?”

  A sheepish expression crossed Ice’s features. “I wasn’t aware of the onboard computer until it made its presence known seconds before it gassed us. I was distracted.”

  “You decided to have sex.” Amusement had Flint grinning.

  “I had an episode.” Ice glanced at Megan and sighed. “I know I need to address my issues with tight spaces. Luckily Megan kept me from panicking. It seems sex overrides my fear.”

  Flint turned serious. “The sixth pod hasn’t been located. Did it deploy? The shuttle from Earth blew up into large pieces that we found scattered in space. We checked the debris field but did not find it or his body but it was a mass of objects, too many and too tightly compacted to search. It’s possible we missed it. The council is very agitated to discover the fate of Zorus.”

  Ice opened his mouth but before he could talk, Megan stepped forward to draw Flint’s attention.

  “Zorus and Coal are out there somewhere in the sixth capsule. We have to find them.”

  “I don’t understand why Zorus didn’t link to and reprogram the computer to pilot him toward my ship, as the others did. We were scanning as we looked for you and did not find them.” He paused. “Coal is with him? I thought he returned to the Rally.”

  “Um,” Megan swallowed the lump that formed in her throat. “Zorus was out cold. He, um, hit his head. Would Coal have reprogrammed the capsule to return to the Rally? Maybe that’s where he’s heading.”

  “Zorus has been injured?”

  Ice sighed. “He was after I hit him.”

  Megan winced. Why had he admitted that? Would he be in trouble? Worry ate at her as she darted a glance at Flint, seeing his dar
k eyebrows rise in reaction to that information.

  “You struck him?”

  “He ordered me to leave Megan behind to die.”

  Flint’s gaze hardened. “I would have punched him as well if he ordered me to abandon my wife.”

  “I do not know where he is. Coal struck me when I ordered him and Megan to take the last two capsules. I had planned to stay behind with Zorus on the enemy shuttle.”

  “Coal told me he would put them both into the last one,” Megan said softly. “He wanted them to have a chance at survival. We could smell wires burning and he said the fire had reached the conduits inside the walls and he thought life support would fail at any time.”

  A loud sigh escaped Flint. “I will inform the council that we have no idea what happened. I’ll contact the Rally and have them backtrack to our location and scan for them. We’ll start a search grid and attempt to locate that capsule.” He fixed his full attention on Megan. “Did they launch before you did or after?”

  “After. Coal sealed the lid on the capsule Ice and I were in. The last I saw of him, he stood over me, but I know he planned to put himself and Zorus into the other one.”

  Another cyborg approached. Megan did a double take when he did. He had the silver-gray hair that came with old age but his face contradicted that. He didn’t look a day over thirty-five. His bright-blue eyes drew her attention and held it. The unusual color was so pale and blue they nearly glowed. For a second, she wondered if he was blind. He gave her a tight smile, glancing directly at her, and then met Ice’s gaze.

  “They may not have had a chance to escape.” He had a really unusual voice with its gruff, raspy tone.

  Flint nodded, his expression grim. “The explosion that destroyed the Earth shuttle was severe. We’ll do an extensive search, cover the area, and if we don’t find them we’ll assume they didn’t survive.” He addressed the cyborg with the strangely beautiful eyes. “I’m off shift so it’s all yours, Sky.”

  Ice wrapped an arm around Megan, pulling her to his side. “What of the Markus Models?”

  “We saw one of them drifting in space.” Sky shook his head. “It survived the blast. It attempted to wave its arms to flag us down to pull it inside our ship. It was creepy as hell to see it and I hope to never do so again. They really appear human. Seeing him floating out there, moving around, was freakish, and then to top it off, he attempted to throw small debris items at the Star to get our attention, as if we weren’t aware of him.”

  Ice’s body tensed. “You brought it inside the Star?”

  The large cyborg shook his head. “Hell no. We left it out there. It can drift in space until it uses up all its battery power or something slams into it. I’m hoping a big asteroid smashes it into tiny pieces. They are not allies, and with Zorus not here to demand we do otherwise, we decided it wasn’t worth the risk. They wanted to turn us over to Earth Government so it can kiss my ass. It’s lucky I didn’t think it was worth some target practice.”

  Flint chuckled. “I’m glad to have you back, Sky. I’ve missed your unique assessment of matters.”

  Ice chuckled. “Sky is our Earth expert. He was assigned by the council to listen in on all Earth vessel transmissions. He tends to speak as they do and take on some of their traits.”

  “He has picked up of their amusing language.” Flint grinned. “Kiss your ass? Really? I hope that’s not a literal statement.”

  “Bite me.” Sky grinned. “And no, not literal.” His gaze lowered to Megan. “You’re hot, babe. Ever done a cyborg?”

  Ice tugged Megan tighter against his side. “She’s my wife.”

  Sky’s grin died. “Sorry. I wasn’t informed you’d joined a family unit. I had hoped you’d rescued her from the Earth shuttle and she happened to be an unattached female. I’d love to possess one of my own.” He laughed suddenly. “To help with my language skills, of course.” He winked.

  Flint chuckled. “If you’d arrived in the cargo bay a few minutes earlier when we opened the capsule you wouldn’t have had to ask if she’s familiar with a cyborg male.”

  Megan’s cheeks burned and Ice shook his head. “Stop teasing my female.” He hesitated. “Is there anything I can do to help with the search? I can take Megan to my quarters and settle her there before reporting for duty.”

  “I have it.” Sky shifted his stance. “How hard do I really have to look for Zorus? He’s not my favorite person. He ordered me into his special project, and let me assure you, I haven’t enjoyed being stuck on Garden with his uppity attitude. As soon as we find him, he’s going to drag my ass back there. The only reason I’m here is because he thought I might be of use with those freaky machines that can pass for human. I am in no hurry to go back or have him barking out orders at me. The guy is a first rate asshole.”

  Flint hesitated.

  “Coal is with him,” Ice reminded them.

  “Got it.” Sky muttered something under his breath. “Poor sucker. I feel sorry for anyone stuck with Zorus.” He turned on his heel and marched away.

  Flint smiled, watching Sky leave the cargo bay, and then turned to face Ice. “It wouldn’t be a tragedy if Zorus didn’t survive.” His smile faded. “Coal, on the other hand, would be a loss. I like him, though we’ve only briefly known him.”

  “Hopefully they escaped the shuttle before it blew.”

  “Hopefully. You’ve survived an ordeal. Take your wife to your quarters and I’ll have some food sent to you. Relax. I’ll tell Sky to inform you of the results of the search.”

  “Thank you for picking us up.”

  Flint studied him. “I’m surprised you’re alive and didn’t fight your way out of that tiny life pod. I know you have issues with being enclosed in small spaces.”

  “Megan kept me calm.”

  “Is that what she was doing on top of you? When my wife is half naked, sitting on my lap, I’m anything but calm.” Flint grinned.

  “Funny.” Megan shook her head at the two smiling men, seeing their shared amusement at the joke. “I’m more than ready to get out of this outfit.”

  “You were just out of half of it,” Flint pointed out, chuckling.

  Ice laughed, tugging at Megan. “I don’t believe she’s amused by our teasing. She doesn’t enjoying the weight of the uniform I gave her. We’ll be in my quarters. The Rally is great but it’s tighter on space and as you mentioned, more is my preference. I’ll be happy to spend time in my quarters here.”

  “I am glad that you survived.” Flint moved away, walking toward the cyborgs who were moving the capsules to the side of the bay, clearing the center of the large room.

  “Come with me,” Ice ordered softly, releasing her waist as he offered her his arm.

  She gripped it and walked beside him. Five minutes later they entered his living space on the Star. “Nice. It’s about ten feet bigger than your other one.”

  “Yes. I do enjoy commanding the Rally but I mainly live here.” He paused. “I’ll put in a request for larger quarters. They have them for the males in a family unit who have their female travel with them.”

  Megan watched Ice remove his clothing. She hesitated and then stripped out of the uncomfortable uniform, planning to take a foam cleansing. Her thoughts were on the cyborg who had saved their lives and what it would mean if Zorus hadn’t survived.

  “What is wrong?”

  She lifted her chin. “I was just thinking about Zorus and Coal.”

  He closed the distance between them and peered down at her. “You have a worried expression. They might have survived.”

  “Zorus is the one who hates humans and the one who really pushed for that vote for everyone to decide to kill me, right?”

  “He swung the council’s vote that way. He makes no secret of his hatred of humans.”

  “If he died…” She hesitated.

  “What is it? I won’t be in any trouble, Megan. No one will hold me accountable for his death.”

  “That’s good to know and half of my worry just
left.”

  “Half?”

  “If he’s dead, does that mean you don’t have to be in a family unit with me any longer to keep them from killing me?”

  A tinge of anger showed on Ice’s features. “We are a family unit and his fate has no consequence on that.”

  “I want to know the answer. If he’s dead, do you have to be in a family unit to keep them from ordering me killed in the future?”

  He gripped her hips and jerked her hard against his naked body. It surprised Megan. She gripped his upper arms as she watched him glare at her. He lifted her high enough that her feet left the floor and she rose until they were face level.

  “You’re mine and even if you aren’t willing to accept it, that is your fate. I will not release you from the contract.” He paused. “Ever.”

  Staring into his beautiful silvery-blue eyes, she swallowed. He looked so angry it stunned her. “I”

  “Belong to me. You’re mine, have been mine since the moment you asked me how you could serve me. I gave you the opportunity to stop what was happening between us but you allowed me into your body and then you asked to stay in my quarters with me to keep you alive.” He paused. “You already know I have feelings for you. Do you think they would change just because it’s no longer a necessity to keep you safe from the council’s orders?”

  “I also know that you didn’t want to join a family unit. You didn’t want to get attached. If Zorus is dead then the option is there for you again. Nothing is stopping you from just walking away from me.”

  “Have your feelings for me changed, Megan? Do you want me to release you?”

  “No.” She wouldn’t lie to him. “I am worried if Zorus died that you might want to release me. I realize you probably felt you had to go that far to protect me and now there will no longer be a reason if that guy died.”

  Ice took a deep breath, his chest pressing tightly against hers. “There’s a reason.”